The present invention relates to an elbow for the angular connection of two stretches of raceway for electrical cable systems, each of said raceway stretches comprising: [i] a base section defining an internal bottom surface; external walls; at least one compartment wall providing for the existence of at least two sub-raceways, said walls being provided at the top end thereof with folds forming longitudinal slots; and [ii] a cover section for each of said at least two sub-raceways, provided with lateral skirts adapted to be inserted in said longitudinal slots; said internal bottom surfaces of each of said base sections: [a] being substantially coplanar and [b] having respective substantially juxtaposable end cuts over the whole extension thereof, said elbow being suitable for occupying an active position in which it establishes a connection between said two raceway sections.
In the case of non-compartmented raceways, a regular practice of the installation engineers is to mitre the ends of the base and cover sections of each stretch and fit them together directly, without using any item to cover and hide the slits and defects proper to the manual cut in a haphazard fit. Nevertheless, angled covering members, which are snap fitted on the fitting arrangements described, have been used in certain cases.
In other cases, the use is also known of accessories for forming flat elbows in the form of an angled base member which is capable of being assembled to the raceway base sections and is provided with an angled covering member to close the elbow in a way attachable to the raceway cover sections.
Solutions similar to the above disclosed have been applied to compartmented raceways, with the exception that the angled base member is provided with compartments mating with those of the raceway, the angled covering member being unique and identical to the above mentioned one.
The above cases have the serious drawback that, when the angled covering member or equivalent item is removed, all the electrical cables of the different compartments are uncovered and made accessible. Thus, the electrical cables that should not be disturbed while those that should be are being manipulated may not be isolated and protected.
It is an object of the invention to overcome the above-mentioned drawback. This object is achieved by an elbow of the type first mentioned above, which is characterized in that it comprises [.alpha.] for each sub-raceway, an angled closing member having skirts which, in said active position, engage simultaneously in longitudinal slots of both raceway stretches, closing portions of a sub-raceway of each stretch from above; and [.alpha.] a covering member which, in said active position, covers said angled closing members from above and is provided with means for engagement with said base sections.
In this way, the compartments containing electrical cables which should not be disturbed are maintained closed, at the same time it allows the compartments containing the electrical cables that should be modified to become accessible.